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Artemisia reached for her son’s hand. Danni watched as she took Walker’s hand. “Don’t,” she whispered.
He was on his knees beside her and Danni. “Don’t what, Mom?” He wiped his face across the sleeve of his flannel shirt. Walker hadn’t worn a costume tonight. He was dressed like he always was.
“Don’t give…up what you have,” she took a deep breath. “Walker promise me. Don’t give up Danni for revenge on Jesse.”
His eyes met Danni’s across his mother’s body. Then he looked where she was trying desperately to stop the flow of blood. He knew that it was too late. His mother wouldn’t make it. He wiped his eyes again. Then he got to his feet and walked away. He pounded his fists into the back of Danni’s truck and she flinched but, in the end, it was just a truck. She was worried more about Walker.
“Danni take care of him,” Arte said to her.
She leaned over and kissed Arte’s forehead. Danni’s tears fell on her face. “I will. I promise.”
Arte nodded.
In the background, Danni heard the sirens, but they were too late. She heard her mother crying. She saw Walker with his head against his arms. Arte was gone.
Ben pulled her to her feet when the paramedics wanted to get to Arte Wild. They knew it was too late as soon as they squatted down beside her. Danni looked one last time then she walked to her man. Blood on her hands, she grasped his flannel shirt and held on tight. She wanted him to know she was there. Right there, where she belonged, holding on for him when she thought he couldn’t hold on himself.
He tugged her into his arms and crushed her to him. Danni felt his tears against her cheek. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“He has to pay for this.”
“Not by your hand,” she insisted.
That statement was met with silence.
“Walker, not by your hand.”
“All right,” Walker snapped, “but he has to have justice served on him for Mom’s death and the death of those two girls.”
“Then let the sheriff find him and do his job, not you,” Danni insisted.
“Okay but Hawk better find Jesse soon before anyone else gets hurt.”
For the next hour, Danni and her mother explained what they saw. She had seen more than Rachel. Ben had noted the make and model of the truck but couldn’t catch the license plate.
Jesse was driving a 1989, Dodge Ram Pick-Up Truck. Nothing special. Black in color. No special markings that would make it easy to find. No tool boxes in the back of the truck like some of the big trucks in Sherwood had. There wasn’t a gun rack hanging off the back window as it was in others in town. Nothing descript screaming it was from Sherwood a small, country town.
“Any idea where he got it?” Hawk asked Walker.
Walker shook his head no. His brother was always capable of getting his hands, on money when he needed it which is what usually got him into trouble. Had he purchased the truck by trading in his sedan which Danni knew that Walker would know well and was traceable to Jesse through his registration too?
“None,” Walker replied. Danni knew that he was feeling more defeated than ever. Two girls were dead, and his mother was being carted away in a body bag. It broke his heart. He gazed down at Danni to avoid the image of his mother’s body being removed from Ike’s parking lot. She met his eyes and kept looking at him never letting him look away.
“It’s okay,” she told him but they both knew that it wasn’t. It wouldn’t be until Jesse was brought in.
“That’s all I have for you right now,” Hawk told him and Danni. “Go home Walker.”
Danni drove while Walker stared out the passenger window. She knew he was getting lost in himself and it wasn’t good. She reached across the seat and took his hand. He turned his head. She was trying to pull him back to her.
“Why would she fight him for a gun? Both of you could have gotten hurt.” His finger traced across his lips as if he contemplated what could have happened versus what did which was bad enough.
“She wanted to protect you. She kept telling Jesse he wasn’t going to ruin your life again.”
Walker shook his head and turned to face the window. “She should have known better,” he said his voice breaking. Danni glanced at him, but his head was turned too far towards the window for her to gage his true emotions.
The cabin was close. Danni could see it on the right-hand side of the street. She turned on her signal to make the turn into her drive. “Walker, I loved your mother.”
He turned towards her. Danni made the turn into the drive. “I wanted us to be one big happy family. It was right around the corner. She begged me to take care of your before she died. I won’t let her die in vain.”
